Den man älskar

This is the seventh feature film by Swedish director Åke Sandgren. PROS: Great acting from talented Sofia Ledarp, Jonas Karlsson and Rolf Lassgård. Balanced, spot on writing by Danish Kim Fupz Aakeson. CONS: A bit predictable at parts.

Conjugal violence has often been treated in the movies; the Hollywoodian style of "sleeping with my enemy" starring Julia Roberts and " enough" starring Jennifer Lopez were not that much convincing ,gambling on the show and on turning the viewer into a voyeur .

"Den man älskar" avoids this trap : all one sees is photographs of the beaten wife taken at the hospital ,and the bedridden victim .

Anti-Hollywoodian to the core, the film may turn off some viewers ; after she's found comfort and true love again with another good man, the heroine ,helped by the police,keeps her torturer at bay ...for a while ...

But ,relatively speaking, the heroine looks sometimes like Charlotte Rampling in "portiere di notti" (Liliana Cavani , 1973) : a former prisoner of a concentration camp fascinated by her nazi hangman (Dirk Bogarde) she meets again in Vienna ,sexually attracted to him .

That's what happens to the heroine:in spite of her new husband's love and affection , she cannot help but being slowly but inexorably attracted by her former flame ;this may infuriate some viewers , in spite of the "moral" ending -perhaps imposed by the producers- The viewer does not leave the movie unharmed : he feels as uneasy as the bewildered husband walking in the graveyard ; the movie is a long flashback .

The question is : is it really a plea against beaten wives? Although interesting ,for that matter, the movie remains an ambiguous statement.

"To love someone" is a dark movie about a modern and important subject, women who are beaten by there partners. But this movie dares to enlighten the difficult questions why some womens seems to be drawn into destructive relationships and instead of choosing a way out rather walks right in to the obvious danger. To love someone, is a movie about self destructive behavior and it will make you wanna rip of your hair and scream.

After a stormy relationship Lena finds a new life in her new husband Alf. Her old boyfriend Hannes who is serving jail time for long time abuse to Lena is sent free from jail and against all common sense a new relationship begins.

The director Ake Sandgren dares to provoke and take the movie in to the dark sides of human behavior. The movie works well tanks to the writer Kim Aakessons wonderful book and the actors Sofia Ledarp (Lena) and Jonas Karlsson (Hannes) and Rolf Lassgards (Alf) impressive acting.

To love someone, shows that love isn't logical at all and contains decisions that will effect your life for ever. You become the sum total of all the decisions you ever make in your life, no matter if it was a very bad one.

This is my third review in as many years. I was channel surfing just before I was going to bed and I chanced on this film. I do not like reviews that are novels within their own right so I will be brief.

Acting from the 3 main players, excellent. A moving story of how one issue is dealt with by different people in different ways. An emotional journey of love, drama and physiological issues. As for cinematography, well the film is so well written and the actors so well cast, your view is on the people portrayed in this film, the surrounding excluding a few poignant inanimate objects that are part of the film story, are made relevant without the loss of the actors integrity.

Easy to follow story that keeps you intrigued and glued to watching the film until the end, as it did for me keeping me up until 3 A.M.

I will watch again, as being a foreign film, I am sure I will pick up more on the second viewing and it is worth watching twice either way.

Great movie slow to start with much soon made ground!!!!!!! Made you keep thinking has he changed??? Will he ever change and then when he had the violent outbursts against men i thought Nope!!! It's still in there somewhere...... my big question is did he die??? Did she die???? Or both???